Sunday Newsletter

Masses Today

6.30: Michael Murray; (Anniv).
11.00 Rory Kavanagh, Richie Jenkins, Jim & Teresa Tully, (Anniv).
6.30: Laura Carr, (Anniv).

As I Was Saying...

Understandably, much has been made of Barack Obama's colour. He is regarded as America's first black President. But skin colour, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. If Obama were elected President of Kenya, he would presumably be regarded as Kenya's first white President! Which shows just how ridiculous racism is!

In fairness, race never surfaced as an issue during the campaign. It is certain that Obama was not elected because of his colour. But was he elected despite his colour? I like to think he was elected because he was patently the best candidate available. Perhaps Martin Luther King's dream has at last been fulfilled, and Americans can now judge one another 'not by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.'

Religion has been another taboo issue in American politics. While Barack Obama has often spoken openly about the importance of religion in public life, he has been rather vague about his own personal religious convictions. In some respects, this reticence is understandable. Obama's religious biography is unconventional and politically problematic. Born to a mother who had already rejected Christianity, and to a Muslim-turned-atheist African father, Obama grew up in a world with plenty of spiritual influences, but without any particular religion.

In 1981, he embarked upon a personal spiritual exploration. "I lived an ascetic existence," Obama told a Newsweek journalist. "I withdrew from the world in a fairly deliberate way." He fasted. Often, he'd go days without speaking to another person. "I read widely. I read Saint Augustine, who wrote the West's first spiritual memoir and built the theological foundations of the Christian Church," he told the journalist.

In his 2006 book, 'The Audacity of Hope', Obama explains why he eventually embraced Christianity: It was because of these newfound understandings - that religious commitment did not require me to suspend critical thinking, or otherwise retreat from the world that I knew and loved - that I was finally able to walk down the aisle of Trinity United Church of Christ one day and be baptized, it came about as a choice and not an epiphany; the questions I had did not magically disappear. But kneeling beneath that cross, I felt God's spirit beckoning me. I submitted myself to His will, and dedicated myself to discovering His truth. ('Audacity to Hope', 208)

The story of Barack Obama's religious journey is a uniquely American tale. It's one of a seeker, an intellectually curious young man trying to cobble together a religious identity out of a jigsaw of confusing influences. Always drawn to life's 'Big Questions', Obama embarked on a spiritual quest in which he tried to reconcile his rational side with his yearning for transcendence. His claim to have found Christ hasn't solved everything! "I'm on my own faith journey and I'm searching," he says. "I leave open the possibility that I'm entirely wrong." What a welcome change! His immediate predecessor was hampered by an over-abundance of foolish certainty in these matters.

-Dick Lyng

Future Happenings

Pearls of electoral wisdom...

Top

Valid HTML 4.01 Strict